Ouch that hurt

Saturday was a rainy Southern California day so Sunday I was excited to wake up to the expected forecast – bright blue sunny skies with a high around 60. Hard to beat that! I searched around for a great place to run and found the Double Peak run in nearby San Marcos. I figured with going up a summit on a clear day, we’d have some spectacular views. We loaded the mountain bike in the car for Christina and I somehow managed to close my pinky finger in the door while doing so. The door glanced it while closing but got it good! I ran inside (maybe screaming) and quickly put some antibiotic ointment on it, a band-aid and iced for a few minutes. It was throbbing in pain and ultimately is very black and blue on both sides with a bruise mark that is slowly consuming my entire nail – hope it doesn’t fall off! It’s hard to bend completely and you’d be surprised how much you use your pinky on your non-dominant hand. This will be fun!

On the way to the run, Tobey had her head out the window as per usual. Somehow she knocked the bike into the window button and got her head closed in the window. I didn’t realize what happened at the time so was confused when I tried to lower the window to only have it raise again. We got her out and she seemed unscathed, though was shaking for a bit. Poor baby!

Two injuries later we made it to the trailhead and started up. Sedctions were runnable and some were not. There were definitely some steep sections since we had a climb of around 1000′ over 2.5 miles. Not the worst hill I’ve been on though. The views were amazing early on with snow-capped mountains in the distance and toward the top – ocean views. In fact the summit provided a spectacular 360 degree view from snow-capped mountains to bright blue ocean. It’s no wonder the parking lot at the top was pretty crowded.

My left foot had been bugging me lately at the ball below my big toe. It comes and goes and only acts up a few miles into a run. This day was no exception and by the time we started heading down it wasn’t long before I had to switch with Christina and hop on the bike. I was frustrated to say the least and had been looking forward to the run down. Better safe than sorry. Overall though, we (and the dogs) had a great time out there on such a gorgeous day!

I did some research when I got home and Christina dug into her PT books. To make a long story short, I think the problem started when I was running in my minimal NB 101s and hitting some hard surface. Minimal shoes, hard surface and a more forefoot strike all combined for some issues. Until it clears I plan to take this week off, ice lots, switch to shoes with more forefoot cushioning and stretch it a lot. It’s hard to say exactly what it is but it doesn’t seem to be a stress fracture or anything too serious. Hopefully!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica